Am                       Em
Will you do me a favor, pianoman, please?
  C                      G/B
I want you to write me a song
     C                   G/B        Em
They call me the Hero of Antelope’s Run
    Am          Em                Am
And I’ve got to show them they’re wrong
    C                     G/B
You see, it all started a week ago
       Am                   Em
In the bar down on corridor three
          Am                    G/B    Em
There was nobody there but the regular bums:
    Am          Em          Am
Two losers, the barman, and me
Am                       G/B          Em
Slopping up booze in the north corner booth
        C            Dm             Em
Was the old man they called Captain Jed
          Am                           G/B
‘Cause he owned a tramp freighter, the old Antelope
  Am              Em            Am
A ship that, like him, was half dead
    C                      G/B         G
Now Molly, they say, was a crack pilot once
  Am                      Em
A gal with a brilliant career
         Am                    G/B     Em
But then she started doping on Regulus One
    Am      Em              Am
And finally washed out down here
    Am                     Em
And me, well, I wanted the Navy, bad
       C                           G/B
But it seems that they didn’t want me
      C                             G/B         Em
So I stopped chasing stars, started sweeping up bars
    Am              Em            Am
For bed, board, and all my drinks free
       C                          G/B          G
It was quiet that night, with the docks closed down
          Am                   Em
There was nothing due in for a week
       Am                      G/B     Em
Not a ship was in port but the old Antelope
         Am        Em         Am
When the red alert started to shriek:
    Am                         G/B          Am
The whole station shook like a hurt living thing
         Am                Dm     Em
Then the lights dimmed and faded away
         Am                    G/B           Em
Then the gravity went, and the air pumps cut out
        Am        Em         Am
And the bartender started to pray
     C                             G/B      G
“Ah, stow that bilge, head for the Antelope now!”
      Am                        Em
Jed’s voice cut the dark like a knife
     Am                     G/B      Em
“The station reactor’s gone critical load
   Am         Em             Am
So run to the docks for your life!”
Am                                 Em
When we got to the docks, we found waiting out there
      C                        G/B
Every soul that had been left alive
     C                               G/B         Em
They begged with their eyes for poor old Captain Jack
   Am            Em        Am
To tell them all how to survive
 Am                             G/B        Em
“Break out the suits,” said the captain to them
          Am                        Em
“For it’s dark and it’s airless and cold
      Am                      G/B         Em
But I swear I can get you all out of here safe
       Am        Em         Am
Packed in to the Antelope’s hold.”
Am                          G/B
“Molly,” he asked, “Can you navigate?”
 Em               C         Dm         Em
“Aye,” she said. “Who do we have for a crew?”
      Am                 Em
“The Antelope needs only three hands,” he said
       Am               Em              Wm
“And I think our young friend here will do.”
     C                     G/B            G
The confident look that he flashed at me then
        Am                   Em
Made my heart turn over with pride
   Am                      G/B     Em
I never once thought about backing away
  Am            Em          Am
I think I would rather have died
    Am                   Em
Two hundred alive in the Antelope’s hold
        C                       G/B
And the Captain, and Molly, and me
    C                            G/B          Em
We slammed the locks just as the station blew wide
    Am            Em          Am
Jed hit the main jets to get free
     C                       G/B          G
Now, that kind of G-force is rough on the heart
    Am                     Em
Too much for his ticker to take
        Am                    G/B        Em
So when we came around and we saw how he lay
    Am           Em          Am
We knew Captain Jed wouldn’t wake
Am                          G/B      Em
So I took the comm, and the engineer board
    C           Dm          G/B
And Molly took helm and the nav
         Am                    G/B      Em
With the manual spread out all over the deck
        Am            Em          Am
And her mind for what they didn’t have
    C                          G/B       G
She worked at that comp like a crazy machine
          Am                            Em
While her hands shook like grass in the breeze
        Am                                G/B            Em
But her skills were still sharp, and she jumped us three times
      Am          Em         Am
Never minding the shakes and DTs
Am                           Em
Three jumps made clean, only one more was left
          C                      G/B
When the ship’s alarm started to blast -
        C                       G/B          Em
Her old worn-out seals had come loose in the stress
        Am         Em           Am
We were losing our heat and air fast
        C                         G/B         G
On the bridge, there was only one vacuum suit left
           Am                     Em
Well, they say Lady Luck is stone blind
          Am                          G/B        Em
“Heads or tails,” was the question I started to ask
       Am           Em        Am
When I felt myself hit from behind
Am                           G/B          Em
When I came to again, I was sealed in the suit
        C           Dm           Em
She was belted down tight in her chair
         Am                      G/B          Em
With her hands on the console, a smile on her lips
        Am          Em          Am
And the ice on her face and her hair
 C                          G/B         G
“Here’s the instructions to get us all home,”
  Am                      Em
I saw she had left on the screen
    Am                       G/B       Em
“If any old shipmates should ask after Mol
     Am            Em           Am
Just tell them she finally died clean.”
   Am                          Em
I made the last jump just like she told me to
      C                              G/B
And I brought the ship in like she’s said
       C                   G/B        Em
C They call me a hero now, for what I did
         Am            Em       Am
But they don’t mention Molly or Jed
   C                       G/B       G
So write me that song now, pianoman, please
    Am                  Em
And sing it out often and loud
        Am                    G/B         Em
So they all know the story of one kind of hero
    Am              Em       Am
The kind that makes everyone proud
    Am                      G/B           Em
For some kinds of hero are lunkheads like me
     C       Dm                 Em
Who only do things that they’re told
     Am                    G/B         Em
And some kinds of hero are out for the glory
        Am        Em           Am
They’re heroes on purpose, and bold
C                      G/B       G
Some become heroes for bravery, sure
     Am                      Em
And some just because all is lost
      Am                         G/B      Em
But a few are true heroes, like Molly and Jed
    Am            Em          Am
Who give without counting the cost